Air distributor



' Sept. 8, 1936, J. L IPKA AIR DISTRIBUTOR Filed April 22, 1955 4 SheetsShe9t 7 J. LIPKA AIR DISTRIBUTOR Sept. 8, 1936.

Filed April 22, 1935 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 4 3W; f%% zyaz,

drtomm v Sept. 8, 1936. P 2,053,725

AIR DISTRIBUTOR Filed April 22, 1935 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 (la-W anon VIM Sept. 8, 1936. J. LIPKA 2,053,725

" AIR DISTRIBUTOR Filed April 22, 1935 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Patented Sept. 8, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT oFFicE AIR DISTRIBUTOR John Lipka, St. Louis, M0. Application April 22, 1935, Serial .No. 17,590 3'Claims. (omen-263') This invention relates to certain new and use- :=ful improvements in airdistributors, the peculiarities of which will be hereinafter .fully describedand claimed.

My present device belongs to that class of air distributors in which air currents from any suitable blast fan or other similar device, are automatically directed in continuously varied directions throughout a room receiving said air currents by a device operated by the passage of the air currents themselves, such devicebeing located in the-path of said currentsand'hence actuated thereby.

These air currents may be either hot or cold, moist or dry, .as produced by the usual heating or cooling and other means, since my device is used in addition to such means and the quality of the air currents produced thereby.

In the accompanying drawings in which like reference numerals indicate corresponding parts,

Fig. 1 is an elevation of the rear exit end of the casing, and the air conducting pipe or conduit, showing oscillating vanes mounted at said exit end of the pipe, and a rear view of my air motor operating said vanes;

Fig. 2 a side view of said pipe showing the propeller at the inlet end of the pipe and indicating its operative connection to the vanes at the opposite end of the pipe;

Fig. 3 a plan view of the same with part of the pipe broken away to show the link work connections between the vanes and the air driven motor;

Fig. 4 an enlarged side view of the air driven motor with speed-reducing mechanism and part of the adjustable crank which operates the link work;

Fig. 5 a similar plan view of said air driven motor; and

Fig. 6 an auxiliary arm providing a lower connection to the vanes for increasing the clear space adjacent the link work for the purpose hereafter described.

The numeral I represents a casing, such as a conduit or air conducting pipe of square or other cross section and of any suitable length. One end of this pipe from which the air currents proceed in their exit, is provided with a series of parallel pivoted vanes 2, preferably vertical and pivoted in the angle iron 3 or other band at the exit end of the pipe I. A similar angle iron 4 or other band at the inlet end of said conduit, serves to support my air driven motor. This motor consists of a front plate 5 extending downward and bolted to the band 4 and separated from a rear plate 6 parallel thereto, by spacers preferably consisting of rods with reduced'ends which are respectively riveted into said front and back plates. These plates provide a support for apro- :pellershaft 1 rotatably mounted therein and hav- ..=ing a propeller 8 facing the air blast currents and just inside the rear plate. The rear end of said shaft 1 is preferably reduced in diameter to take 10 the small .diameter pinion 9 and to form a journal :bearing in the rear plate 6 (Fig. 1).. An

intermediate shaft I0 is also suitably mounted in said plates and carries a large gear that meshes with the pinion 9. The shaft It extends outside of the rear plate and also has a pinion l2 fixed thereto which pinion meshes with a second large gear I3 similarly mounted on a shaft l4. These pinions and gears form a speed-reducing mechanism by which the speed of rotation of the propeller is suitably reduced so that the rotation of the shaft I4 and its large gear l3 will rotate at a similar slow speed a crank i 5 connected thereto. This crank is preferably connected to the large gear l3 by bolt-and-slot connection between the crank and gear so that the length of the crank may be adjusted inward, and outward away from the shaft, and exert a corresponding influence upon link work which it operates; it may be otherwise mounted.

This link work preferably consists of a universal joint, one of its jaws l6 being pivotally connected by a link I! with said crank, and its other jaw l8 being pivoted likewise to a lever extension l9 from one of said vanes 2, to which it is spot welded or otherwise fastened. The parallel vanes 2 have each an out-turned lip 20 and to these lips is pivoted a connecting bar 2| so that they will oscillate in unison.

The air driven propeller rotates the said crank l5 at a relatively slow speed and such rotation of the crank is changed to an oscillating movement of the link I! and of the vanes to which it is operatively connected as above described. Thus the air blast entering the inlet end of said pipe will be diverted and distributed at the exit end by the continuous oscillation of said vanes under control of the air driven motor above described.

The result of such oscillation is to distribute the air currents issuing from said pipe in undulating waves of air in continually varying directions affording a softened impact upon persons in the room due to their pulsating varying directions in continuous succession under the control of my air distributor.

As stated above the air may be hot or cool and if desired any suitable heating or cooling means may be located within the pipe between the vanes and the air driven motor and in such case, it may be desirable to provide more space for such means than is available when the lever arm l9 (Fig. 3) is fastened to a vane near its middle. If desired therefore for providing more space for this or any other purpose the lever arm l9 may be fastened to the vane near its bottom edge and its opposite end be connected to the jaw l8 of the universal joint by a vertical bar 22 (Fig. 6), the

other end of which is fastened to said jaw l8 by fixed connection to the forward end of said lever As indicated in Fig. 3, the said air conducting pipe or conduit may be of any suitable length as required by the conditions under which it is used, and whether more or less space is required therein for the usual or any suitable heating units that may be located therein for the purposes above described.

I do not limit myself to the exact construction shown and described except by the appended claims.

I claim:

1. An air distributor comprising parallel plates, spacers separating said plates, a shaft mounted in said plates, a propeller subject to air blast mounted on said shaft, a pinion mounted on said shaft, speed-reducing gears driven by said pinion, a crank 0n the last of said gears, parallel pivoted vanes mounted adjacent said propeller shaft, and operative connections between said vanes and crank.

2. The combination with an air conducting pipe subject to air blast having an inlet end provided with an angle iron band and having a square exit end, and parallel pivoted interconnected vanes of equal length mounted in said exit end, of an air distributor comprising a pair of vertical plates spaced apart, one plate being longer than the other and bolted to said angle iron at the inlet end, a propeller shaft rotatably mounted in said plates having a propeller facing the air blast and driven thereby, a pinion on said shaft, speed-reducing gears connected to said pinion, and operative connections between said gears and the said vanes at the exit end, substantially as described.

3. The combination with an air conducting pipe subject to air blast having an inlet end and a square exit end, of a set of parallel, pivoted interconnected vanes mounted in said exit end,

a lever extension fixed to one of said vanes and ending in a jaw, a link having a matching jaw at one end operatively pivoted to said extension jaw, a crank pivotally connected to the other end of said link, a pair of vertical plates spaced apart and mounted at the inlet end, a propeller shaft rotatably mounted in said plates having a propeller on its front end and a pinion near its rear end between said plates, an intermediate shaft mounted in said plates and extending outside the rear plate having a large gear between said plates meshing with said pinion of the propeller shaft, a pinion mounted outside the rear plate on said extended shaft, and a second large gear meshing with the latter pinion and similarly mounted on another shaft carried by said plates,the latter gear adjustably carrying said crank, substantially as described.

' JOHN LIPKA. 

